


I'd give you the world

by ChocoNut



Series: Many ways to say I love you [25]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Morning After, Post 8x2, Season 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 17:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18608965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocoNut/pseuds/ChocoNut
Summary: As the crowd  by the fire clears, Brienne spends some time with her handsome knight. One thing leads to another and Jaime fulfills more than just one dream of hers.





	I'd give you the world

_Ser Brienne of Tarth..._

Tyrion’s voice when he had first announced her title still rang in her ears. Long after everyone had left, she sat there alone, staring into the fire, wondering if she was entitled to so much happiness and contentment. She had to agree with Jaime, sleep was impossible tonight, but it wasn’t because of the impending doom they were about to face. She was still unable to come to terms with what Jaime had done for her. When he uttered those life-changing words for her, they’d forgotten the others around them, it felt as if the world around her had shrunk to just the two of them, everyone else blurred out of existence.

“I told you it’s going to be impossible to sleep tonight,” said a deep voice behind her, making her jump.

“Ser Jaime.” She straightened herself at once, the familiar nervousness returning to bother her again. “You’re back.” She forced herself to calm down and put on a normal expression when Jaime took the chair opposite hers.

“I couldn’t sleep either.” He followed her gaze into the fire and an awkward silence ensued, something that seemed to have become a norm between them ever since he’d set foot in Winterfell.

For many long seconds they just sipped their drinks with Brienne stealing covert glances at him when he wasn’t looking at her. “Thank you,” she said, breaking the silence. She hadn't spoken to him since he’d honoured her with the Knighthood, reducing her to an emotional puddle of tears and happiness, so the least she owed him was her gratitude. Never in her life had she imagined that she’d be granted this wish, that too by the man she… _loved?_

His attention now on her, he regarded her closely. “You don’t have to thank me, you deserved it, and--” he ran his tongue over his lips, clearly nervous “--I’m glad I could make you happy.” His eyes crinkled and the corner of his mouth played in a smile, one that seemed to convey--what exactly, she couldn’t say for sure.

Brienne lowered her eyes, hoping he wouldn't see her blush in the semi-darkness. “I still owe you my--” _gratitude,_ she was about to say, but he didn’t let her speak further.

“You owe me nothing, Brienne,” he said at once, a hint of agitation in his voice, “except--” he stopped mid-way.

“What?” His unfinished sentences were now beginning to confuse and scare her.

“Your father would be proud of you,” he deflected the subject, a notable hint of pride in his tone as he complimented her.

She shook her head. “He’d be disappointed.” She couldn’t hide the sadness in her voice as he pictured her father’s face. “I’m his daughter, not his son, and what he wishes for me is quite different from my perception of what my life should be.”

Jaime’s gaze on her intensified. “And what does he wish for you?”

Brienne stared down at the contents of her glass. “To wed and carry my family line ahead, to take his place as the Evenstar after him. But unfortunately, I--”

“Do you want it too, Brienne?” Something in the way he said this made her seek his eyes. His voice was tender and his expression softer than it had ever been as he continued studying her with a look so deep that it set her heart aflutter. “A husband, children, a family--”

“I should be going.” She scrambled to her feet, suddenly flustered by the way he was looking at her. “Anytime we might have to--”

“Stay,” he requested, dragging his chair closer to hers, his tone soft, yet firm. “We might have to go anytime, and I’d want nothing more than to spend what could possibly be the last night of my life in the company of the only person I--” Once again, he stopped talking, about to say something, yet never saying it.

She slowly returned to her chair and began staring at her knees, uneasily fumbling with Oathkeeper’s pommel for want of something to do.

When Jaime leaned closer to get a better view of her face, she could feel his eyes on her. “I’m still waiting for your answer, Brienne.”

“I--” She decided to lie. “I don’t have any such desire. All I wish, is to be a knight--”

“I don’t think that’s what your heart says.” He saw through her lie immediately. “Becoming a knight doesn’t mean you can’t love, have a family--”

“I’m not made for love,” she snapped, disturbed by the turn of the conversation.

“Says who? What makes you think you can’t love someone?”  

Old memories shot through her mind, leaving her with a dull ache in the chest. “It’s not about me. I did love someone once, only to be disappointed,” she admitted, the alcohol making her tell him things that otherwise would’ve been buried deep in the safe confines of her heart. “He never returned my feelings, he--”

“I’m not Renly,” he interrupted her, his voice gentler than before. In the next few seconds he was by her side. “I could fulfill your dream, Brienne, if only you give me a chance to make you happy.”

She laughed, convincing herself to avoid falling into a trap of drunken impulse. “Now’s not the time for a joke, Ser Jaime--”

“Does it sound like I’m joking?” His eyes exuded sincerity and longing. “I honestly want to know what you desire, Brienne. A life with the man you love doesn’t sound so bad, does it?”

Unable to take it any longer, Brienne got up to leave, her cheeks burning. “I have to go and I don’t love--”

Jaime was quick to block her way. “Oh, you do,” he said, breathing heavily. “And so do I.”

“That’s your wine talking, not you,” she said, not knowing how to react to this unforeseen predicament. “Come dawn, when you’re less intoxicated, you’ll see me differently.”

“I began to see you differently the day you hacked down those Stark men. It just took me years to realize it.” He set his glass down on the nearby table. “I’m not so drunk that I have no control of my senses or of what I’m doing.”

Brienne's heart pounded harder. “We should really stop--”

But he was in no mood to listen to her. “I came to Winterfell because of you--” his emerald eyes shone with affection “--because I’m in love with you,” he said, taking her hand and moving towards her, closing the gap between them until he was in her personal space.

He loved her. This wasn’t a joke, he was serious. Jaime Lannister was here for _her_. Too many thoughts filling her mind, she stood there, turned to stone.

He played with her fingers. “If we survive the night--”

“If we survive,” she repeated wistfully, knowing how remote a chance there was for it.

“We could,” he sounded optimistic. “When I came here I had no vision of how I’d like my life to be after the war, but now I’m inclined to concur with my brother and hope for a death when I’m an old man, at the ripe old age of eighty with _you_ by my side.”

The possibility of him dying tonight upset her, overshadowing the knowledge that he loved her. “What makes you think I won’t die before you?”

“You won’t,” he said confidently. “Women usually outlive their husbands.”

“That may not be true for a man whose wife is a knight,” she argued without thinking. But when she realized what she’d just said, she fell silent.

“Does that mean you accept me, my lady?” He broke into a charming smile which made him look more handsome than he’d ever been.

“That was a slip of my tongue,” she mumbled, her face on fire.

“That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard from you,” he said, his smile widening. “Apart from your trust in me when you defended me.”

When she didn’t reply, he did something she’d never expected any man to do for her. He knelt before her, taking her by surprise for the second time that night. “Will you marry me, Ser Brienne?” His voice shook as he spoke. “I don’t just want to serve you, I want you, and I want to be yours.”

Brienne looked away, finding it difficult to believe her luck. So many good things happening to her all at once was almost unbearable.

“Say something, my lady,” Jaime urged. “Your eyes speak volumes, but you hardly speak your mind.” She could hear the smile in his voice when he went on. “I’m an old man now, spending too much time on one knee is going to do me no good, so spare me the agony and accept my hand.”

A girlish giggle escaped her lips when she turned to him again. “Yes, I will wed you,” she said, finding her voice again. How could she ever tell him how much she wanted him, how badly she’d pined for him in her heart of hearts! “I’m yours,” she told him shyly.

Springing to his feet, he wrapped his stump around her. “If I could, I’d give you the world,” he whispered, drawing closer. “But all I have is myself and my heart, if that’d suffice.”

Tears filled her eyes as Brienne smiled at him, wondering what she could’ve done to please the Seven. “You’ve made two of my dreams come true in one night, Ser Jaime--”

“Just Jaime,” he corrected her.

“I love you, Jaime,” she breathed, her eyelids fluttering shut as his lips teased hers.

And then he kissed her, the first man to have touched her like that, her first real, proper kiss. It was nothing like she’d ever imagined, nothing like the maidens her age had described when she was ten and six. Not the soft, chase gesture of affection they used to sing about. There was something achingly seductive about his dry and chapped lips when he pressed them on hers. She could taste the wine on them, a pleasant tingling sensation shooting through her when he went from soft and tender to desperate and aggressive, pushing into her and devouring her as his hand went around her back, drawing her closer into him. Unsure of how to respond, she went with him, her lips moving under his, parting open to take in his tongue. When he delved deeper into her mouth, she completely lost her senses.

“Brienne,” he said urgently, panting heavily when they broke apart for air, his eyes burning into hers, his desire for her unabashedly naked. “Let’s spend whatever time we have left together, but not here--”

“--my chambers,” she said hoarsely, understanding full well what he meant, her heart hammering at her ribs as she led the way still reeling under the after-effect of his kiss.

 

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

 

Jaime lay there, unable to take his eyes off the woman in his arms, her warm body wrapped around his, giving him some much needed respite from the cold winter night, a soft content smile on her lips as she slept. If only he had his way, he could stay like this forever, making love to her every night like this, enjoying her shy smiles and blushes when he touched and kissed her. He sighed when he realized that their moment of bliss had ended. But there would be time for more. Later.

“Wake up, my lady.” He kissed her awake. “We need to get dressed.”

She got up, stretching her limbs.

“So how does it feel being stripped off your maidenhood?” he teased. “What does the no-longer maid of Tarth have to say about my skills?”

The glow and the blossoming blush on her cheeks were to die for. “Better than in my dreams.”

“Wait a minute.” Jaime grinned. “Have you actually dreamed of us doing this?”

She turned a bright shade of red. “I should get dressed,” she muttered, getting up, but he pulled her back to bed.

“I hope our night was memorable enough for you to remember all your life.” He gazed at her longingly. “If I die today--”

She kissed him this time to shut him up. “You won’t,” she said firmly. “That’s an order, do you understand?”

“Yes, ser,” he said, pulling his commander and, if fortune favoured them, soon-to-be wife into his arms again for another kiss.

 _I will one day give her the world,_ he decided, wishing for a future in the arms of the woman he loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and let me know if you liked it!


End file.
